l

Noun Group: The Naming Tools

Gerund Phrase

In each pair, the second sentence has a gerund phrase. Notice how it provides de­tailed information.

la . Mr. Clutter carried his apple with him when he went outdoors to examine the morning.

2a . After drinking the glass of milk, Mr. Clutter carried his apple with him when he went outdoors to examine the morning. (Gerund phrase is the object of the preposition after.)

Truman Capote, In Cold Blood

2a. It was a ticklish job. 2b. It was a ticklish job, saddling the pony the first time. (Gerund phrase is an

appositive identifying 11 a ticklish job.") Stephen King, Needful Things

3a. It didn't come easily, but in time he developed a skill at that. 3b. Making new friends didn't come easily, but in time he developed a skill at that.

(Gerund phrase is the subject that 11 didn 't come easily.") Robert Ludlum, The Prometheus Deception

WHAT IS A GERUND PHRASE? It's a verbal ending in ing that names activities. Aver­bal is a verb that also functions like another part of speech. Gerunds show action, so they act like verbs, but they also name, so they act like nouns by naming activities .

To see how gerunds function like nouns, insert any of these phrases into any of the blanks: playing chess, learning new things, climbing mountains in distant lands, building sand castles on the beach, taking a computer apart to investigate its guts .

1. __ is fun . (subject)

2. We like __ . (direct object)

3. They talked about --· (object of preposition)

4. A great leisure activity is --· (predicate noun)

5. Their favorite pastime, , is enjoyed by many. (appositive)

35

f I

I

l

\

Noun Group: The Naming Tools

Difference Between Gerunds and Present Participles-Li ke gerunds, present par­t iciples (page 103) are verbals that end in ing, bu t it 's easy to te ll the difference be­tween them and gerunds. Present participles ca n be removed from the sentence without destroying the sentence, but ge runds cannot be removed without destroy­ing the sentence. /11 each pait~ the first contains a present participle, and the second contains a ger1111d. Notice that only the present participles can be removed .

l a. Feeling so much better afrer the nap, Gunster dressed and went out.

1 b. Feeling so much better afrer the nap relieved Gunster.

2a . Ricky, going down the staircase backward, was very unsteady.

2b. His mom had warned Ricky about going down the staircase backward.

3a . The damaged plane landed poorly, skidding lefr and right with sparks flying ev­erywhere.

3b. The captain during touchdown worried about skidding lefr and right with sparks flying everywhere.

Number: Sentences can contain either single or multiple gerund phrases:

Single- Everything necessary, books, music, wine, he could receive in any quantity

by sending a note through the window. Anton Chekov, "The Bet"

Multiple-My mother told me about dressing in her best party clothes on Satur­day nights and going to the town's plaza to promenade with her girlfriends in

front of the boys they liked. Judith Ortiz Coffer, "The Myth of the Latin Woman"

Position: Because gerund phrases are fixed within a sentence, they cannot be moved

to other positions.

36

r

l

Noun Group: The Naming Tools

PRACTICE 1: MATCHING --------------------­

Match the gerund phrase with the sentence . Write out each sentence, underlining the gerund phrase.

Sentences:

l. I tri ed " , but the twin s simpl y watched, pass ive and inert as two dumb toads.

l--:ei th Donohue, Tile Stolen Child

2. " was half the battle won, for I was soon able to put the letters together and to form little words .

Chri sty Brown, My Lefr Foot

3. He got a job with a storekeeper, whom he impressed by ".

Stephen E. Ambrose, Nothing Like It

in the World

4. Thirty-four, balding, hawk-faced, and intense, he had been dismissed by Johns Hopkins as a graduate student, for " .

Michael Crichton, Jurassic Park

5. I started " , a perfect one from perfectly white snow, perfectly spherical, squeezed perfectly translucent so no snow remained all the way through.

Annie Dillard, An American Childhood

Gerund Phrases:

a. knowing the alphabet

b. planning gene therapy on human patients minus the proper FDS protocols

c. memorizing both the wholesale and retail cost of every item in the cluttered stock and calculating, without pencil or paper, the profit that could be expected from each piece (Contains two gerund phrases.)

d. making funny faces, tickling them under their fat chins, dancing like a puppet, and whistling like a mockingbird (Contains four gerund phrases.)

e. making an iceball

37

i~

1

r Noun Group: The Naming Tools

PRACTICE 2: UNSCRAMBLING -----------------­

Rearrange the scrambled list of sentence parts to match the structure of the model. Next, ,vrite an imitation of the model. Finally, identify the gerund phrases in the model and your imitation .

MODEL: I remember the bitter fifth -grade conflict that r started by elbowing aside a bigger boy named Barry and seizing the cafeteria 's last carton of chocolate milk.

Jo n Katz, "How Boys Become Men "

a. and wearing the football team's championship jersey during homeroom b. by cheering with a boisterous girl named Zee-Zee c. that I originated d . I recalled a zany high school custom

PRACTICE 3: COMBINING------------------­

Combine the list of sentences into just one sentence that imitates the structure of the model. Next, write an imitation of the model. Finally, identify the gerund phrases in the model and your imitation.

MODEL: Spraying bright colors, dancing, and singing are all part of the excitement.

Charles R. Joy, "Hindu Girl of Surinam"

a. Three activities are expectations of the game. b. One is hiding borrowed objects. c. Another is prevaricating. d . And another is pretending.

PRACTICE 4: IMITATING

Write an imitation of each model sentence so good that nobody can tell yours from the author's .

Models and Sample Imitations:

1. Arranging a bowl of flowers in the morning can give a sense of quiet in a crowded day, like writing a poem, or saying a prayer.

Anne Morrow Lindbergh, Gift from the Sea

Sample: Remembering a moment of pleasure from the day will provide a source of happiness for a nice daydream, like whistling a tune, or smelling a rose.

38

Noun Group: The Naming Tools

2. Feeding our bell ies seemed a more vital job to us than trying to feed our minds.

Christy Brown, My Left Foot

Sample: Sharing my mind was a more acceptable activity to her than wishing to share my heart.

3. When he got to the stump end, he steadied himself by gripping a hornlike pair of limbs and settled his sternum against a branch and lay outstretched, a swim­mer among tree boughs.

David Wroblewski , The Story of Edgar Sawtelle

Sample: While she maneuvered in the deep water, she calmed herself by recall­ing a reassuring moment of peace and peddled her feet within the depths and worked steadily, a navigator in troubled waters.

PRACTICE 5: EXCHANGING ------------------­

To practice writing good gerund phrases, exchange one of yours for the author's. Try to make yours as good as-maybe even better than-the author's.

Example:

Author's: Before evacuating the wounded priests, the others passed the cakes around and helped themselves.

John Hersey, Hiroshima

Yours: Before finishing the sandwiches, the others passed the cakes around and helped themselves.

1. After scraping the wood from the shed clean, she filled her arms with as much dry wood as she could.

Toni Morrison, Beloved

2. Patty Lareine had large vices, but she also had the nice virtue of not being a snob.

Norman Mailer, Tough Guys Don't Dance

3. Sadako's friends began to dream of building a monument to her and all chil­dren who were killed by the atom bomb.

Eleanor Cocrr, Sacluku UII(/ the T/1011sn1u/ Paper Cranes

39 I

j

Noun Group: The Naming Tools

PRACTICE 6: EXPANDING

Partner with the author by creating a gerund phrase at the caret (").

1. The first part of a medical student's clinical work involves ". Michael Crichton, Travels

2. To be awake in the cool of morning on a bench near train tracks, hungry, with a little breeze blowing, and whatever book you were reading open in your lap, was a little like " .

David Guterson, The Other

3. On ", he walked straight up to his room without ". (Contains tvvo gerund phrases .) Kenneth Brower, The Starship and the Canoe

COMPOSITION: Gerund Poem

ASSIGNMENT: One characteristic of poetry is repetition of a pattern. In this as­signment, the repeated pattern is a series of gerund phrases.

Gerund phrases name things, including ones people like and also dislike. Lots of things-maybe most-have two sides, pleasant/unpleasant, helpful/unhelpful, interesting/boring, healthy/unhealthy, good/bad. Philosophically, that's basic am­bivalence, where, for example, sunshine can be sometimes unpleasant but other times pleasant, and rain sometimes pleasant but other times unpleasant.

Think about five things you're ambivalent about, that for you have both plus and minus aspects. For each, write a long gerund phrase to create a five-stanza poem with nothing but gerund phrases.

TOPIC SELECTION: Here are some possibilities, but customize your choices, maybe with some of these, and some of your own.

What I like AND dislike about cars, spiders, beer, love, guys or girls, parents, school, celebrities, pizza, God, Internet, grass, sunshine, rain, puppies, kittens, snakes, kiwi fruit, computers, teeth, hair, fingernails or toenails, clothing (maybe pumps, socks, wedding dresses, tuxedos), malls, weddings, work, IKEA, McDonald's, Baltimore (or another place), TV wrestling, skateboarding, rollerblading, siblings, and so on.

Example: "Yeah and Nay Things"

Yeah magazines: Glimpsing the highlights of news in sports, entertainment, national and world affairs without TV's commercial breaks that jarringly interrupt news, like a groom belching during wedding vows.

40

'

Noun Group: The Naming Tools

Nay magazines: Observing a small ad on a 4 x 6-inch card suddenly falling out of the folds of the magazine where it had been immobile during the shufflings of shipping, but the minute you open the pages slipping out onto your lap.

Process:

■ Decide a tone to sustain throughout your gerund poem: serious, humorous, flippant, satiric, philosophical, merry, brooding, sad, joyous, and so on.

■ Order the five gerund phrases logically, perhaps from the shortest to the longest, from least to most humorous, from least to most original, or some other arrangement .

■ After the fifth stanza (gerund phrase), write a memorable sentence that t ies to­gether all of the yes/no comments about your five topics, perhaps making a statement about ambivalence in how people view their own reality.

■ Give your gerund poem a clever title.

"There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so." -William Shakespeare, Hamlet

41

'), - ·J ... . ;

r ' ,,..: l

.-- ·i. ,,, 1 ,,

l

J f - I l ~- ~

C I ) .. ,.:,

,, - ) , l. \

C

':, <; ~;; '/i('t·•;_, · t s;, \{;/r~ :: ·. ;,:· . ,,. . . . . . r ·- . , , . ) . l ( ,\.. r . . . . .. . ~ :>_: ' ·., ' ,. . >' ' ' + . . . . ',: "( . . ' . • . _)

. • , • . • I .... '- .~ ' • . I ~..,· (_ 1 . - . \at: .., . " . -,. \ . ) . \" , . . ' . ✓ ,, , ~- . . . . ., .•. · . . . . . \ I _. .

-, -' . ' / :>:(\~~i;{ tJ~'.}}t)'\/!./ ' .,. , , -;-/,',ij' :"' ' . ,,. , -~;;:::,~

. - '. ,• .. . \· . ., . ... ~· }

- , · I ( "

,,

._ ...,

./ · )"

' . , . ,,I

. ' .\: ...-:·

. c . • '< . ,~;:?::}}i:),?.r~, <<\~,- ·~ . ,.

(.:\<}~ ... \ : _; :..

"-\:- } _ _;,

·-:·~ ,):' ' j.A .. ,

?l~ •~,•· :•,,s<ct:r:e~:~.•i) \ {tJt\{'

: '.'1 {\\/{f ii{i;t\t)\,X{i ~?( .-I . , . J ... .. ........_ : r.,- -1 . ";- . "t· --"\: ··r.· . . · l - >- ·

1-j. ". L · r · _- _J • . . :.,..,_· . . ,-· · . . , : .. ·)..· · . . .,. · . j .. . . . · . · · .;._,;.,:_- r'_f : . . . . . . .\.· · .. . '- 1 . . . . · . . -J'. . < .. • I . : .• . ; . . . . . . .

~<:

·1

· : . . ·. -~~ _:\ · .• : ~ : '- ~~ . _:-:-. ~ : j . i -, , ·1 .~• :' . · - · . · ,.._ _, .. ;,: . ·, i l ). ,- ?-- I ,' ._ .. ...{ '- ·1· ·(-· . ; . ,- - . - ' .,

.:_,,- _: :\.·,.._ ~-: . · ... ' • . ·· ' \. - _'\ - ."-< -").. I ) j ~ ,_, •

~:{:}[/;~\t(_)y,zrt~,-\~ '.>::, ~>.:, . . , ,., . . I . "'l_ . . . . (' y 1 · ;_; _· . ( -,"' r ✓• J

1 ,

·.- . : \ 4.· .. • ..- . ·,· t r. . . . •., 1 - ' . I- . •. ,. ' '. · . I -

1

· . h_ · ~- J',• . · J:.,>, · . 1· : -.- '- ) ,, \ .._ r: , . . , . ) J I

;;·, <' ;- \ >· · f, ,/;i, :" rL ',..{<,: ': ,~. :, ·'.: ~1 · ·1·' _1 .-·..1, . .• ' .. -.;. ,.. . . - ,;.. · , : .. ... . - ':\ '1. ,.. . · . f. ... ' \ . ...:, .. ., •. ! . ,:, 1 . . . .

· ,., . / • . t • . . ".'I fr - . . . \ ' f . ~ . L

:t]i~:~:/i:/t'.\\~i;;f {~::J'~,:s:~ ~ . , : . . ' . . -,... ):.} .· . ' . ···~ . . ' '\ . ' ~ .. >- f. · ; · ' j . 't-·~ . ,

Ft ~:;,f;; '/r;/ .':"/ J\ ;~-t{;.t,·t··,'--).." . ·, I • · ( · , .., r . . • · \ . · · - ':r<L · · " r · .._. · 1

· · · -.,I"

,'{ji:·ft},'.;:;<(~ \ '1 :,,.;'(<,:: ·~ :;, ..,. .. t · ·,;,--:-: ·.· · ,_.- . ·r: "j _ .. ·.- ( . --✓ . . . ( :.,-, ~-) / .f . . '.·.: I-~ ... ?".' . _;_; ·-f ~: <· ~--~~ ~ .... \; \ ~. \-~~--_¼_: . . :,~)._~; ~'/ ::

. . • . l

f \>:i :;~,.<}."if t\.<7~ -_:_{:-~ ·_rt<:~ ·-_c_;_ ---:·-:.-:··~\\< ~

. . -.1. t · _. · . .-_;·, :. ,, . ,_,. ·_1, t ~ -...., .. 1. . , .;,.r ..r ~{

2~:? l-f {-:\i ,;t::E·.:ti{I:l,{~:·.•-. . · :;_..,- . . , · ., ·. 1. · -..,:..\ . ...:., / . ~ - ~ ! · .\-:,. ;:.... l · · /

'-· .,_. X'_i{-};/~:- •,~/~~<<<~:::;~; . .., . . . ,. ·. • r-,. 1,:, . .

1. ~ :z ·- . 7;~

. ·, . . · ~~.:;. -~ ~-¢ -,· .. -.,.

. ' i

~ .··

·.-1 .

·,-.- ~- : -~ /" _._ · . . \ ~-~-- .

~

-~ --